and venezuelan president hugo chavez back in caracas after getting medical treatment in cuba. he has not been seen publicly in three weeks. but chavez was all smiles when he returned to venezuela today. venezuelan officials say that chavez received hyperbaric oxygen treatment in cuba. that involves breathing pure oxygen in a sealed pressurized chamber. it is meant to heal bone damage from radiation therapy. chavez received radiation and surgery for a cancerous tumor last year. "cnn newsroom" continues with deb feyerick. hey, deb. >> thanks so much. well, i'm deb feyerick in for brooke baldwin. a lot of news coming up. new jobs numbers out today and the markets are reacting. we're going to break it down for you and what it all means. in egypt, protesters breakthrough barricades at the president's palace. we'll have a live report from cairo. but, first, u.s. military plans about possible action against syria are changing. senior pentagon officials tell cnn the syrian government could

be escalating the civil war. there are new concerns the assad regime is preparing to use chemical weapons. let's get to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, how does this change the u.s. military's syria plan? are we talking u.s. troops, boots on the ground? >> well, not at this point, clearly, deb. but what we do know is that u.s. officials tell us that they are updating some of the military options for action against syria's chemical weapons capability, why are they doing this? of course, we chatted about this in the last several days. officials say they do have the intelligence now that syria has filled aerial bombs with deadly sarin gas. haven't moved it to airplanes yet, but this is very concerning because that, of course, would be the next step. so once you have the deadly bombs, the u.s. has to look at what the options could be, what they might want to target to essentially take out that kind of capabilities. so that's the options that are now being worked on.

deb? >> i mean, the implications are just stunning that the assad regime would actually use deadly gas on its own people. up to this, up to this chemical weapons news, what was the u.s. military's official stance on action in syria? >> well, you know, the obama administration has been taking the lead on working the diplomatic frant, diplomat ic front, if you will, what they have been doing for months and months for now is trying to get assad to go by putting diplomatic pressure on, to a large extent, working through russia, obviously, which is one of assad's last allies, a lot of chat out there could assad get asign lum somewhere, something like that. by all accounts they have been willing to continue with the diplomatic track until this development. now, we're not saying there is going to be military action, but certainly the military planning, being updated, the options being updated, because now of this movement of chemical weapons,

and a very good understanding, they tell us, of the locations of where they are, and the intent, possible intent to use them, that's what's leading to this potential change in something that everyone is concerned about. it is why you saw president obama warning assad so stride endly this week. >> and there has got to be so much discussion and intelligence circles as to why now what is prompting president assad to do this. the question really is what is that line? what is the trigger that would launch a potential u.s. military response? >> well, i think your first point is really key. why is assad even going down this route? why are his commanders going down this route? we have seen the fighting, our colleague, arwa damon has been talking about this for days, we have seen the fighting pick up around damascus. this is the center of power for the assad regime. and the fighting is quite intense around there. he is feeling the pressure. it is believed, of that fighting in and around the capital.

so perhaps that's why he, number one, is supporting potentially this movement of chemical material. what the red line is, u.s. officials say, it moved a bit. it was any movement of chemical weapons. now it is really they're looking for the intent to use them. that, we're told, is what the u.s. is looking for now. deb? >> well, it is something that we'll be watching very, very closely. barbara starr, thanks so much there at the pentagon for us. outrage and shock in london. a nurse duped by a prank call about prince william's pregnant wife apparently has committed suicide. the hospital says jacintha saldanha was the nurse who answered the call from two deejays. she then transferred the call to catherine's ward twhere another nurse revealed some details about catherine's condition. the duke and duchess of cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of jacintha saldanha. their thoughts and prayers are

with her family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time. the palace emphasized everyone at the hospital took wonderful care of duchess catherine. don't expect to hear from the deejays who made the prank call anytime soon. the australian radio station's owners say the deejays will not be back on air anytime soon. they won't be commenting on the tragedy. the station expresses deepest sympathies for the nurse's death. let's bring in max foster live from london. what are we learning about this nurse? people in london, there must be outrage about this. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. a huge sense of sadness and we just had a statement actually released from the family by the police, very brief, just saying they feel a huge sense of sadness and asked for privacy, the media to leave them alone. we know she was a nurse in the hospital behind me, not necessarily a receptionist but took the call that day. she has hospital of course dags

arou accommodation around the corner. thankfully her family wasn't there, but obviously a huge, huge shock to them. she only put the call through, but many people at the time when the whole prank took place were blaming the system in the hospital, how did the call get put through to the ward? perhaps she blamed herself in some way, we don't know. the hospital says she wasn't facing any disciplinary action. and i can also give you another line from the palace, they gave me another line a bit earlier on, at no point did the palace complain to the hospital, they say, about the incident. on the contrary, we offered our whole heart felt support to the nurses involved and the hospital staff at all times. >> do you know, clearly there was something going on. did she leave some sort of a suicide note to determine a definitive link between that call and her death? >> reporter: they're not saying it is suspicious, the police, but any more information than that, they're not searching for anyone. we haven't got any more

information on that. can't say if it was a suicide or not, that's not the information put out. but certainly she's just been through a major event. the hospital is deeply sorry about everything that happened and the palace has commented on it as well. clearly this has got very, very complicated. the duchess went in early to hospital on monday, had to announce she was ill, then we had this prank and now this. it has been an extraordinary series of events here, certainly not the way kate would have wanted things to unfold. >> of course not. not only with this massive invasion of privacy, but also extreme breach of security as far as the royal security goes. will there be changes at the hospital to make sure that this young couple is protected? >> reporter: yeah, well, they say they're reviewing their telephone systems. i think that is going to come down to you have to vet anyone that goes through to the ward. they keep emphasizing there is no way this ever would have been put through to kate herself because there is a direct secure line into the room and that was never available to anyone, just

calling in. but they're very regretful. they have made comments today. they have a pr company dealing with things. this is a very respected hospital, looks after vips, really high end. they're in a complete sort of crisis control now, a disaster for them. but the real disaster is for poor jacintha's family. >> absolutely. two young kids and a husband left behind. max fostefoster, thank you so m for us. well, the nation's rate of unemployment stands at a four-year low. it is now 7.7% with the economy adding nearly 150,000 new jobs last month. the numbers issued by the labor department. a loss of manufacturing jobs did serve to dampen the outlook going forward. the manufacturing sector shed 7,000 jobs last month. the positive side, again, hurricane sandy appears not to have been the job killer many had feared. the labor department says the

havoc wrought by sandy had no substantial impact on the unemployment picture. with us now, jill schlessinger, editor at la w manyre the jobs aart me ,ow m t are seasonal jobs? >> not so many seasonal. we saw some broad based gains and we continue to see some really robust gains in retail, in business services, health care is really continuing to show great improvement. you mentioned manufacturing. mentioned one other area, 20,000 jobs lost in construction. that may be a little bit of sandy related. >> but also, one of the interesting things, you looked at the numbers and said there was 300,000 people that said weather did affect the job surge. why is that not considered sandy related? >> it is weird because there are two different surveys when you look at these jobs numbers. one comes from the businesses. the businesses, they take that survey, november 12th, and the businesses are for the job creation number. the other survey is called a household survey. that's how we determine the unemployment rate. and part of that household

survey is did you look for a job last week, yes, no, and why not? so a lot of people said weather related. when i was digging into the numbers, i said a normal november, weather related, about 60,000, here we had 300,000, that's one of the reasons we saw the unemployment rate go down. look, i want to feel good about the unemployment rate being low, but 7.7% happened because fewer people were part of the labor force. that's not the right reason that we wanted to see the jobless rate go down. >> absolutely. and i want to read you something that paul krugman wrote in the new york times earlier this week. he said, long-term unemployment remains at levels not seen since the great depression. as of october, 4.9 million americans had been unemployed for more than six months. 3.6 million had been out of work for more than a year. fiscal cliff negotiations, they're really focused on fixing the debt. how can you fix the debt if you can't fix the economy? if you can't fix the jobs situation? >> oh, boy, this is the magic

question this is why people like paulfreaking out and going, wait a minute, we go over the fiscal cliff, it is austerity, it is bad for job creation and that could be a problem. the bigger issue i think in the long-term unemployment problem is we never really dealt with it from the beginning of the jobs crisis. so 12 million people out of work, 40% of them, more than six months, that's insane. but we have not had a real program to get those long-term unemployed back to work. and, you know, frankly, i don't see anything happening in the future. as we look at that fiscal cliff, what does that really do? it says government is going to spend less money, less money means less job training, less ways to get the unemployed back to work. that really says that we're probably going to be stuck with an unemployment problem for a long time. >> so avoiding a fiscal cliff doesn't necessarily mean getting people back to work? >> no, look, the economy is only growing by less than 2%. and when you got sub 2% growth, we're not going to be creating hundreds of thousands of jobs a month.

that's what we need to see to see that unemployment rate come down and get us out of this hole. >> jill schlessinger from cbs money watch.com, thank you for joining us. appreciate it. this week the air force is conducting a big sweep of work spaces. what are they looking for? well, they're looking for pictures of scantily clad women. yes. we'll explain. and basketball legend kareem abdul-jabbar, the nba's all time leading scorer, joins me to talk about his own battle against a rare form of blood cancer. annou] holiday cookies are a big job. everything has to be just right. perfection is in the details. ♪ get to holiday fun faster with pillsbury cookie dough.

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with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. well, the head of the air force launched a campaign to make life around the base more friendly towards women. calendars, photographs, any type of images that might demean or objectify women, those are gone. chris lawrence is standing by for us at the pentagon on this really large house cleaning. and, chris, you know, the chief of staff general mark wells said if we're going to get serious like sexual assault, we have to basically get serious about an environment that could lead to sexual harassment. what is going on over there? >> yeah, basically, this is unprecedented. starting today, air force commands and supervisors in every work space, every public space, are going to be going through and inspecting it,

scrubbing them for pictures, inappropriate pictures, scantily clad women on calendars, photos, even briefing slides that were shown in some training. they're going to be going through and trying to get rid of all of that. in fact, the air farce chief of staff said, quote, quite frankly if we ve 20% of our people who don't feel that they are fully respected and valued, then that's just not the air force we want to be. basically saying that a lot of women felt that they had to go along to get along, that there were jokes being told, photos out there that made them extremely uncomfortable, and they just could not get anyone to listen. >> and, chris, you know, you would think with all the awareness that the number of sexual assaults would be going down, but that's not even the case. >> they're going up in the air force. i mean, they expect to have more than 700 sexual assault cases this year. that's 100 more than they had

last year. in fact, at one training base, they had a problem that was so bad they now instituted a wingman policy where the recruits and trainees are not supposed to go anywhere outside their dormitory alone, just specifically to prevent the kind of assaults that have been taking place. when you look at that, that's like saying to you, well, deb, the only way we can really protect you is if you don't leave the newsroom, unless somebody else is with you, i mean, it shows the length of the problem. now, they're not saying that every photo on a calendar or every inappropriate joke directly leads to sexual assault, but what they are saying is if there is a link, they want to make sure to sever it, and if people are feeling very uncomfortable in these situations, then that's unacceptable in any sort of professional environment. >> and, chris, is this sort of a suggestion that there is, you know, going on from here on out, there is zero tolerance policy

in terms of anything that might be deemed inappropriate? look, we all like a good joke, okay, but there is a line you shouldn't cross. >> no, this went beyond just a joke here or there. i mean, the chief of the staff of the air force said he had heard from a lot of people, a lot of people, who said they felt, you know, very, very uncomfortable. a lot of women and even some men about things that were said, about photos that were put up in public places. this isn't going to be a witch-hunt. they're not going to go into people's personal computers or start rummaging through their lockers or anything like that. but they want to make sure in the public spaces where everyone is working together that there are not, you know, blatant things out there that will make people feel very uncomfortable in trying to do their job. >> absolutely. sort of a very subtle intimidation. chris lawrence there at pentagon, thanks so much. a special mission decades after the pearl harbor attack. a pearl harbor veteran is honored for his work to properly

identify remains of pearl harbor victims. stick around. this is a story you don't want to miss.

71 years ago today, ray

emory survived what president franklin delano roosevelt called a day that will live in infamy. the japanese bombing of pearl harbor. now the 91-year-old is being honored for his detective work, for the last ten years ray has been helping put names with graves of service members killed that day. for one man, it was a broken tooth. for another, it was a broken leg suffered as a child. ray emory's memories and personal records helped identify those service members. a moment of silence today at a ceremony at pearl harbor to remember the 2,400 men and women who lost their lives that day. and in michigan, outrage over workers' rights. protesters packed into the state capital building after the republican-led legislature passed a series of right to work bills. union activists are angry at the new measures which they say weaken unions and limit workers' rights. the governors made it clear he's ready to make it law. that would make michigan, which is considered the birth place of

organized labor, the 24th right to work state. for a second straight day, growing outrage in egypt as protesters attacked president mohamed morsi's house. and others demonstrate in tahrir square. a live report on the protests right after this. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine

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and talk to unitedhealthcare about our plans, like aarp medicarecomplete. let's get you on the right path. call today. ♪ protesters in egypt pushed through barricades surrounding the presidential palace today. police tried to keep the demonstrators from the nearby state tv studios. meanwhile in northeastern egypt president mohamed morsi's house was tacked for the second day. it is the latest violence since' dressed the nation yesterday, angering crowds by refusing to back away from his edict giving him more power. reza sayah joins us from cairo. what do you know about the protests outside morsi's home at the palace and also in tahrir square? >> reporter: well, in tahrir

square the protests do continue. for the most part it is peaceful and tension outside his house in a city outside of cairo, but, deb, we want to pass along some new information that we just confirmed and we're not sure what this means in the grand scheme of things. but the president's adviser has announced that the vote for the constitution for expats, egyptians living outside of egypt, that was sketcheduled fo tomorrow, it is postponed until tuesday. the opposition factions, mr. morsi's critics want the vote for next saturday, taking place here in egypt. that's the referendum on the constitution, they want that to be canceled. that hasn't happened yet. that's why they're out here protesting again. and also rejecting the president's speech from last night, a lot of people -- anxious to see what the president would say, if he can resolve this conflict, back down from his position. did not. what he did was call for calm,

call for the political factions of the leaders to come to the palace tomorrow and meet. he also issued a stern warning to protesters not to resort to violence, but, again, he didn't back down from his core position, and that is the national referendum on the constitution will take place next saturday, and he also did not rescind his controversial decrees that he announced last week, that gave him additional powers. that's why, deb, this impasse still remains. >> and reza, it is fascinating to watch from over on this side, which is, you know, there is so much money riding on this, not just from the united states, but from the international monetary fund, by the world bank. morsi yesterday talked by phone with president obama. what have you learned about this? >> reporter: well, president obama, washington obviously keeping a close eye on the situation here in egypt. president obama expressing his concern about the violence and the people who died a couple of days ago. but beyond that phone call, it

doesn't look like washington is getting any more involved. there is certainly going to keep a close eye. egypt is going to be an important country for washington moving forward. especially for the u.s.' stated priority of keeping israel secure. egypt is going to play a role on that. and rest assured, that they're going to assess president morsi and this egyptian government based on how they handle this political crisis. deb? >> is there also concern, look, a lot of the people who are demonstrating, they're going to be able to vote on this constitutional referendum. first of all, is there any concern that perhaps the vote will not be legitimate, that something will go wrong with it? or or, you know, if they don't like it, why not simply vote against it? >> reporter: certainly there is that possibility. i think all eyes are going to be on next saturday, december 15th. are there going to be mass protests, violence again? you're going to have to keep an eye on the judiciary. they have been charged with

monitoring, overseeing this vote. some judges have said they're going to boycott it. some have said we will oversee it. if enough judges boycott it, that could certainly undermine the legitimacy of this national referendum next saturday. a lot of uncertainty moving forward. that's why there is a lot of drama and intrigue here in egypt these days. >> remarkable to watch it as it all plays out. reza sayah, thanks so much. okay, so we're going to go back to today's big story on the economy. the nation's rate of unemployment stands at a four-year low. now 7.7%. with the economy adding nearly 150,000 new jobs last month. the numbers issued today by the labor department easily beat most economists' expectations. alison kosik is with us from the new york stock exchange. alison, the markets, how are they taking the news today? >> considering this report came in way better than expected, the market has been pretty quiet.

the dow up about 54 points. the s&p 500 is flat. and you're seeing this caution, deb, because, you know what, there are a lot of caveats in this report, being called noisy because there are a lot of quirks. you look at the drop in the unemployment rate, it is a bit misleading because it fell because 350,000 people just left the workforce. they stopped looking for a job. that's not necessarily the reason you want to see behind the drop in the unemployment rate. also, the report doesn't reflect the full impact of hurricane sandy just yet. plus, a third of the positions that were added to the economy, they were in the retail sector and many of those are just temporary holiday jobs. that could wind up falling off the payrolls after the new year. all the people that have temporary jobs could be back on the unemployment rate. that's not to say that there weren't some bright spots in this report. it does show the labor market may not be growing by a lot, but it is stable. look at where we have come from. after weak jobs figures over the summer, we have been slowly

making our way back. but with all these caveats with this report, what we really need to see is another couple of months to get the revisions and then look back at the trend to see if the stability in the jobs market is holding. deb? >> and alison, you talked about retail, let's talk about manufacturing. particularly negative part of today's reading is the loss of manufacturing jobs. that's how america builds, we create things. do we know why that happened? >> you look at that portion of the report, it didn't fare so well in november's report. and most of those 7,000 job losses are coming in food manufacturing and here's why. you look at hostess, hostess announced it laid off almost 19,000 workers as part of its liquidation. you should wind up seeing that overall number normalize in the coming months. but then again there is the fiscal cliff. implications of that. interesting thing about this whole report in general is that it came in much better than expected and that could actually wind up being a bad thing for the negotiations going on

capitol hill because it may not light a fire under lawmakers. may not give them the motivation to compromise when they would maybe be more willing to compromise if the jobs numbers were weaker. so a lot of interesting things going on with this report. a lot of implications. deb? >> definitely still room to fix the economy. alison kosik for us at the new york stock exchange, thank you so much. well, after weeks in hiding and on the run, john mcafee's bid for asylum in guatemala has been rejected. he may be deported back to belize. more on this bizarre case coming up.

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well, you got to get your daily john mcafee update. you need a score card for this one. here we go. yesterday at this time we were getting reports that mcafee was rushed to the hospital from his jail cell in guatemala city. there he is on a stretcher. the hospital found nothing wrong with mcafee. so a few hours later he was sent back to jail. that's him in jail, playing with

a laptop. he's even blogging from jail as he tries to fight being sent back to belize. he's wanted for questioning there in the murder of his neighbor, american expat greg faull. faull had complained about mcafee's dogs and excessive noise. so far guatemala is saying no to mcafee's request for asylum and the software giant could be heading back to belize soon. listen to mcafee explain why he fled belize and why he doesn't want to return. >> they have attempted to charge me with every crime ranging from running an antibiotics laboratory without a license, to hiring security guards without a license to having improper paperwork for my company and most recently the murder of my neighbor. i had to leave. but the story has to get out. i have documentation that proves the intent corruption of all levels of the government, now that i'm in a safe place i can speak freely. i will be talking on my blog.

w whoismcafee.com. >> with that, mcafee dances in the parking lot with his 20-year-old girlfriend. we will keep tabs on this one. clearly he's wanted for questioning as to what may have happened to that neighbor. so stay tuned. we'll bring it to you. well, this week we honor the top ten cnn heroes of 2012 with an all-star tribute. anderson cooper hosted the star studded event at the shrine auditorium in los angeles. here is kareen wynter to tell us about that very special night. >> reporter: the red carpet outside l.a.'s shrine auditorium buzzed with excitement. but this time the bright lights shined on some special stars. everyday people changing the world. >> welcome to cnn heroes an all-star tribute. >> reporter: out of thousands of nominations submitted by cnn's global audience, ten amazing men and women were singled out for their remarkable heroic efforts to make the world a better place. people like raja john who is providing a free education to

hundreds of girls in rural afghanistan. >> i think education is the only thing in the world that can go forward and make life better. >> reporter: and leo mccarthy, who gives scholarships to kids who pledge not to drink after his daughter was killed by a young driver. >> let's change the culture and keep these promising vibrant kids alive. >> reporter: olympic swimmer collin jones helped celebrate wanda but golden moment. she created a nonprofit that helped more than 1200 children learn how to swim. >> it is unbelievable to me that i have come this far from such a tragedy with my son. >> reporter: it was an unforgettable night, capped off with the unveiling of the cnn hero of the year, pushpa vasnet whose helps kids whose parents are imprisoned. >> thank you for believing in my dream. >> reporter: the hope is that

their heroic example will inspire countless others. ♪ heroes sometimes >> reporter: kareen wynter, cnn, los angeles. >> truly amazing people. and you can watch the special broadcast in its entirety tomorrow night on cnn at 8:00 p.m. eastern and again on christmas day at 4:00 p.m. eastern. so get your family, get your friends, be prepared to be inspired. you can watch it over and over again actually. well, he's a sports ledge end, written several best-sellers, former nba great kareem abdul-jabbar will join me live to talk about his battle against cancer. and a small business beating the odds, find out why this bookseller is thriving while others are closing down. ♪

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some good news in the jobs report, out today. unemployment fell to its lowest levels in four years. analysts say some of that due to workers dropping out of the labor market. with the holidays upon us, then, how are some businesses finding ways to keep their doors open while others are failing? our tom foreman went looking for some answers in today's "american journey." >> reporter: amid the bustle of broadway, against the bad economy and the crushing competition, at the strand, the show goes on. started more than 80 years ago, this independent bookstore has beaten the odds, surviving the

great depression, world war ii and fred bass, who was a baby when his dad started the strand, says the store is enduring these tough times too. >> mainly by having good books and good prices. lately we have been selling a lot of new books at discount, but it is mostly used books or bargain books that we sell. or out of print books. >> reporter: the strand's eclectic approach allows it to appeal to a broad array of clients hunting the trivial and treasured on its shelves like this rare signed copy of ulysses by james joyce. >> what are we selling this one for? $25,000. a bargain, really. >> reporter: but the strand's success is about more than inventory. employees top to bottom must possess a deep knowledge of books, and embrace the idea that they're maintaining a business, yes, but also a community. >> there is just a comfort here where people feel willing to

open up and to have 30-minute conversations with you in the aisles, even when you probably should be working. >> reporter: the strand has kept up with the times too, to compete with megabookstores and internet retailers, it now offers almost all of its books online. still, it could be argued that in these days of everything moving faster, the strand's winning edge really comes from going slower. >> there is something about being able to just browse through all these aisles and hold a book and read a book and look at a book. that's wonderful. >> reporter: the bottom line of all this, even with the economy down, sales at the strand are up. and another great season of holiday shopping is going on the books. tom foreman, cnn. >> it is definitely a must-stop for all of you when you're back here in new york. well, you know him as one of the greatest nba players of all time. kareem abdul-jabbar. up next, there he is, the sports

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kareem, you have a rare type of blood cancer, myeloid lou keep l leukemia? >> you can keep it at a point where it doesn't threaten your life. >> your grandfather and your uncle died of cancer. your dad came close. by being vocal, making yourself accessible, do you feel you're helping people sort of live those years? >> absolutely. medical science has been so great. you mentioned novartis earlier. they're on the cutting edge of figuring out therapies that will work for people like me. so, for example, in my treatment, the first medicine i took called. >> glivac wasn't working the way i wanted it to. i changed to the next generation drug and it worked very well. it has given me what is called the molecular response, which

means i no longer have any bad white blood cells that can be detected in my body down to the molecular level. that's the type of response that we want to reach and hope to maintain. >> you know in the three years since being diagnosed, what has been your biggest breakthrough personally or with respect to treatment? and how the treatments happened. >> i think personally once people found out i had leukemia, it made me a lot more human to people. when you're a successful athlete, people think you can do anything at anytime. and when they find out you're susceptible to the same things that every other ordinary person is susceptible to, it kind of humanizes you. and has, you know, it made it easier for me to talk to people, people approach me new and ask me about my health and tell me about people that they know or love that are dealing with the same issues. >> sometimes people get discouraged when they're told, no, this treatment doesn't seem

to be working. what is your advice to those folks? because you did have to kind of try until you found the right treatment. >> exactly. but the whole idea is patience and understanding that this does not have to be a death sentence. if you are determined to beat it, medical science has given us a lot of tools to beat it with, just have to be patient, follow your doctors' instructions and good things can happen. and usually they do. >> all right. well, we're certainly sure you're making a difference in a lot of people's lives who are going through the same thing. kareem abdul-jabbar, thank you so much. we appreciate you stopping in to talk to us. >> nice talking to you. well, tracking your texts. ahead next hour, why some police officers want the power to investigate your messages years after you send them. [ woman ] ring. ring.

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a young woman uses a brown paper bag to show kids a tough lesson on the history of judging people by their skin color. soledad o'brien has more on today's segment of "black in america." >> -- even in the same grade. >> reporter: kiara lee recently graduated from the university of richmond. her passion is educating children about colorism. >> tell me about that. why did the teacher not call on him? >> because she ugly. >> reporter: she is 7 years old and her mother is worried her little girl is already getting the message, dark skin is bad. >> i think my skin is ugly. >> why do you think it's ugly? >> because i don't want to be dark. >> you don't want to be dark? >> no. i want to be light skinned. >> why?

>> because light skinned is pretty. >> you think so? >> yes. >> can somebody tell me what that means? >> my stance is, teach the children what it is, show them the history, make them aware of this issue so that when they go to school, when they go out in the world, they're armed with this information. because he wants to buy her, because her skin is lighter. you got to sit in the back. even among 6-year-olds, she is not afraid to shock. today, the brown paper bag test. kiara stops each child entering the classroom and compares their skin tone to a paper bag. >> let me see your arm. put your arm out for me. okay. you go sit in the back, okay. >> reporter: lighter than the bag, you can sit in the front. it's a real test, from the early 1900s. used by social organizations like churches and fraternities and neighborhood groups to decide who was light skinned enough to join. was it too extreme to do to

little kids? >> no, i don't think so at all. i think the more interactive, the more shocking the activity is, the better because it is going to stick with them. >> soledad o'brien talking to us now from new york. this is fascinating. when you think about this brown paper bag test, doesn't that harm the children or is that -- what is the impact on the kids. >> it is shocking. terrible. yet kiara would argue if you listen to the kids, especially that little girl, she says, she knows the messages she's getting about her dark skin tone. she clearly does not want to be dark and it is painful to hear what she tells her mother, about how she doesn't want to be in her own skin. so kiara, the teacher, would argue, listen, these kids are having these conversations it critical for us to jump in and sort of make them aware of the history of what they're doing. so that we can stop this. this is colorism. discrimination based on skin tone. and she's very interested in trying to get everyone together

to stop, to fight it. >> is it also a way of resetting or really changing a children's view of how they see what the color is, so they can begin to appreciate that whatever color they are is the right color to be? >> i think what she's doing here is shocking them and saying how does it feel to you now? i've just judged you on the color of your skin. let's think about that as we view that to others and be sure to recognize it, even in kids as young as 6 or 7. >> that's so remarkable. this is fascinating series you're doing. when you say who is black in america, you would think that we have learned the answer to that question. >> it is getting more complicated because the number of mixed and biracial kids is growing. we have more biracial children born today than ever before. >> just incredible. soledad o'brien, we're looking forward to seeing your special. thank you for joining us. soledad takes a look at lots of provocative questions about skin color, discrimination and race. who is black in america premi e premieres sunday night at 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn.

well, outrage and shock in london. a nurse duped by a prank call about prince william's pregnant wife apparently has committed suicide. jacintha saldanha was the nurse who answered the call from two australian deejays. she then transferred the call to catherine's ward, where another nurse revealed private details about catherine's condition. a saint james palace spokesman says, quote, the duke and duchess of cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of jacintha saldanha. their thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time. the palace emphasized that everyone at the hospital took wonderful okay of tcare of the catherine. the australian radio station's owners say the deejays will not be back on air anytime soon. they won't be commenting on the tragedy. the station expresses deepest sympathies for the nurse's death. let's bring in max foster, live

from london. max, what do we know about the nurse? >> reporter: well, we know that she had two children, and a husband. she died in hospital accommodation in london. but her family wasn't with her at the time. they are elsewhere and they meet up at weekends. thankfully they weren't there when this happened. that's really all we know at this point. she was a nurse, wasn't a receptionist. was she filling in in the role? we're not sure about that. certainly at the time when the call went through and made world headlines, a lot of blame was put on the telephone systems. why was this call put through to the ward? so maybe she felt some pressure from that. we don't know. the police are saying they're not searching for anyone in relation to this, but it all is being linked up. certainly a very sad situation, the hospital very saddened by it, they say. and doing what they can to investigate and help with the police. and the palace, as you say, saddened as well, adding a bit later on that at no point did

the palace complain to the hospital about the incident. so distancing the palace. and kate was here, of course, and she probably didn't deal with this nurse, and the point is that their privacy was invaded. but what the palace is saying is they didn't complain about it. this wouldn't have had a an effect from them, at least. >> when i'm surprised about, max, especially when somebody from the royal family, you've covered them extensively, when somebody from the royal family is in hospital, for example, i don't understand why there is not a code word or why the call is not vetted even by a member of the royal security team. >> reporter: yeah. there probably is now to be honest. to be honest, the royal security team, they're in charge of looking after kate and making sure she doesn't come to any harm. they're not in charge of the hospital systems. they would have come and checked it out but this is a well known hospital, a long relationship with the royal family. as far as the code words and stuff you're talking about, they probably are in place now.

it is extraordinary that anyone could ring up and get put through to the ward. the hospital is saying there is no way they could ever have gone straight through to kate. she's on a secure line. so that wouldn't have happened. as we know, details, personal information, was released by the nurse and that was because jacintha put the call through to her. we don't know what happened in the last few days but the hospital says she wasn't being disciplined. we're trying to get details together. it is just a tragedy at this point. >> and by all accounts the nurse, a young woman, married, two young children, police have called the death unexplained. why? >> reporter: well, they're simply not looking for anyone else in relation to this. they're not saying how she died. it is an investigation. they can't go into too much detail. that would come out with a coroner's report, an inquest later on. they're still investigating. they have to investigate in some detail, it has only been a few hours. that is all they're saying at the moment. not looking for anyone else in relation to this death. >> okay. max foster, a tragic end to a very, very bad prank.

thank you so much. the nation's rate of unemployment stands at a four-year low. it is now 7.7% with the economy adding nearly 150,000 jobs, new jobs last month. the numbers issued today by the labor department easily beat most economists expectations. a loss of manufacturing jobs did serve to dampen the outlook going forward. the manufacturing sector shed 7,000 jobs last month, but on the positive side, again, hurricane sandy appears not to have been the job killer that many had feared. at least not right now. the labor department says the havoc wrought by handy had no substantial impact on the unemployment picture. and in michigan, outrage over workers' rights. >> shame on you! >> protesters packed into the state capital building after the republican-led legislature passed a series of right to work

bills, which union activists say limit workers' rights. poppy harlow in lansing. poppy, a very heated issue. a lot of the folks think this is just a blatant attempt at union busting. take it away. >> reporter: michigan is considered the heart of organized labor here in america. this is the birth place of the united autoworkers and the future of unions in this state is really in question at this hour. late on thursday, three bills were passed here at the state capital, two by the senate, one by the house, all focusing on right to work legislation. what does that mean? if this state becomes a right to work state, that means that unions and employers could not mandate that employees join a union or pay any money to that union. that would likely play out, meaning less union members, less money for unions, that means less power. and that is at the core of all of this. the republican governor here, rick schneider, a big supporter of this right to work legislation, saying he will sign it if it makes it to his desk.

many union workers vehemently oppose it. >> it is time to make a decision and the decision i believe best for michigan is don't the workers have a right to choose. >> this is not what is right for the worker. there are corporate special interests trying to pass right to work in many different states and michigan right now is up front right on the chopping block. >> reporter: why the opposition and why the massive protests here at the capital? it is because those labor members really believe that this would result in lower pay for them, fewer benefits, less bargaining power and what the data shows us is that typically union workers do make higher wages than non-union workers. when you look at median weekly salaries. one labor lawyer i talked to said this is hugely significant, saying this could be devastating to the labor movement in america as a whole. what will happen over the weekend is that opponents of

this right to work legislation will be out, pounding the pavement, trying to get the message out and convince their representatives to vote down this measure. the vote could be taken up as early as tuesday here in lansing, michigan. back to you. >> all right. poppy harlow for us there in michigan, thanks so much. well, should cell phone companies hold on to your text messages? law enforcement agencies want companies to store them. is that an invasion of your privacy? and the crisis in syria, we will take you inside a war torn neighborhood and show you what it is like to live in a war zone. diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ tylenol bottle ] me too! and nasal co [ tissue box ] he said nasal congestion. yeah...i heard him. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion.

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f'ing sending the to everyone, you're so sexy, you'll be an online star in no time unless you answer me. the threats came from different cell phone numbers. medof was terrified. >> i was very, very afraid. i mean, that week i didn't go to a night class because i didn't feel safe to walk by myself. >> reporter: it is those kinds of texts that u.s. law enforcement authorities want more power to investigate. several law enforcement groups including chiefs of police, sheriff associations, are pushing congress to pass a law, saying your carrier has to record and store your text messages. it is not clear how long they want them stored. scott burns of the national district attorney's association, one of the groups pushi the new law, says his group favors a period of three or four months. maybe longer, if an investigation is urgent. >> if you're i the middle of an investigation, and bad guys are communicating back and forth, whher it is a homicide, whether it is evidence of a

crime, it is crucial. 20 years ago we weren't talking about this. today, everybody has a cell phone, everybody texts and e-mails and is on social media. and that's where the evidence is today. >> reporter: or not. as of 2010, major carriers like at&t, sprint and t-mobile didn't retain any content of customers' text messages. they got rid of them immediately. verizon keeps them only for up to five days. why can't law enforcement get the texts from individual cell phones? scott burns says it is faster and more efficient to get it from the carriers and points out that, of course, the bad guys often erase their incriminating texts. but many believe the law enforcement benefit of mining texts doesn't outweigh privacy concerns. chris calabrese of the aclu says with some 60 billion text messages sent every day, there is just too much private information that would be stored. >> and that's not just something law enforcement can get. it is divorce attorneys, it is other investigators, it is the press. even if you feel like you have

nothing to hide, there is a lot of embarrassing and personal information there. >> reporter: experts point out this does become a security issue with the carriers. if they store your texts for any length of time, they're not invulnerable to being hacked into. we contacted the major wireless carriers to see what they think of the proposed law to store texts. reached out to verizon, sprint, at&t, and t-mobile. none of them would comment. the wireless association, the main lobbying arm for those carriers, also wouldn't comment. brian todd, cnn, washington. well, a special mission decades after the pearl harbor attack, a pearl harbor veteran is honored for his work to properly identify remains of some of the victims. stick around. it is an inspiring story. jolly at the chevy year-end event because chevy's giving more. more efficiency with sonic and cruze... more function in equinox and traverse... more dependability with the legendary silverado... and more style in the all-new malibu. chevy's giving more at the year-end event because 'tis the season.

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this story should come with a warning. you may need a box of tissues this is nathan norman of russburg, virginia. he's 6. he lives fire trucks and police cars. especially when their sirens are sounding and lights are flashing. nathan also has terminal brain cancer. when asked what he would like for christmas this year, nathan said he would like to get cards from police and firefighters that he so admires. that wish was heard in boynton

beach, florida, and nathan's new found friends do what they do best, a quick response. listen to the spokeswoman for boynton beach police. >> he's our hero. and that's why we decided we were going to put a smile on his face, and answer his wish and as soon as i put the e-mail out, officers jumped at the opportunity to participate. >> and he's getting dozens and dozens of cards from around the nation now. as for nathan's mom, all she wants for christmas is one more christmas with nathan. 71 years ago today ray emory survived what president franklin delano roosevelt called a day that will live in infamy. the japanese bombing of pearl harbor. now the 91-year-old is being honored for his detective work. for the last ten years, ray has been helping put the names with graves of service members killed that day. for one man, it was a broken tooth. for another, it was a broken leg suffered as a child.

ray emory's memories and personnel records helped identify those service members. today, a moment of silence at the ceremony at pearl harbor to remember the 2,400 men and women who lost their lives that day. well, more than 400 people killed when the largest typhoon in decades hits the southern philippines. a 17-year-old girl named jane tries to salvage her water-logged school yearbook after the typhoon devours her family's home. jane is one of a quarter million people left homeless now from this disaster, hundreds of people still missing. the grim death toll is expected to rise. landslides have blocked roads and knocked out power and communications. u.s. military plans about possible action against syria, they're changing. this comes as rebel firefighters take on syrian forces house to house in the country's largest city of aleppo. latest developments next. you can stay in and share something... ♪ ♪

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and we have breaking news for you. the supreme court will, will take on the same sex marriage issue. this was just announced. straight to jeff toobin with us here. we have been waiting for this development. this is a big deal. >> this is a major event in american history. not just in supreme court history. the supreme court is not just going to decide whether the defense of marriage act is constitutional, they are also going to decide whether proposition 8 in california, that case, whether the ban on same sex marriage there is unconstitutional. and that could affect all 50 states. so there is at least the potential that by the end of june, all 50 states will be ordered to have same sex marriage. there is a long way between here and there, but that is now a possibility. >> what is so interesting about this, this is not just about the marriage issue, so much as it is an equal protection issue

because so many people have been denied benefits under federal law. >> that's the defense of marriage act case. what the defense of marriage act case, what the law says, passed in 1996, signed into law by president clinton, that law says that the federal government will not recognize same sex marriages, even in the states where it's legal. so if you are a married couple, same sex couple in massachusetts, you can't file a joint tax return, can't inherit tax free the way heterosexual married couples can. the obama administration says, agrees that law is unconstitutional. that law is now being defended by a lawyer hired by the republicans in the house of representatives. so that -- that is one case. the other case is the proposition 8 case in california. if you recall, california -- there was a referendum -- the california supreme court ruled that there had to be same sex marriage under the california

constitution. gay people had the right to get married there for a brief period of time. then there was an initiative put on the ballot, proposition 8, california voted in a close election to overturn same sex marriage. same sex marriage was banned after it was briefly legal. the federal district court had a trial there, and said that law, proposition 8, banning same sex marriage, is unconstitutional. that was affirmed on appeal, that is now appealed to the supreme court and they will now decide whether proposition 8 is constitutional or not. >> when we talk about this as being a historical sort of review, clearly there were different laws passed at the state level. so now it is really up to the federal government to kind of step in and say, okay, this is where we have to come together on our thinking. >> it is up to the united states supreme court. not the federal government. the federal government, the last word they have is the defense of marriage act. and what makes this so significant is that the supreme

court has not really engaged with the issue of -- of gay rights since 2003. nine years. that's a long time. the country has changed dramatically in those nine years. there is a new gallup poll out that says 53% of americans support same sex marriage. our cnn exit poll said 49% of people support same sex marriage. in the '90s, that number was in the 20s. the country is changing very quickly. that doesn't necessarily mean the supreme court will follow along. look for a lot of attention between now and when the case is argued, probably in march, on anthony kennedy because he has been the swing vote in all of the gay rights cases and he is the author of the two most important gay rights decisions of the supreme court. and even though kennedy is usually with the conservatives, he has always been with the liberals on gay rights. so he will be very much the focus of the argument. >> and stay right there.

want to bring in joe johns, also in washington for us. and, joe, we're talking about the defense of marriage act here. in the end, assuming that the supreme court rules in, you know, on this particular issue, could it be that marriage is no longer defined as between a man and a woman, arguably? >> well, that's certainly the question here, you know. and now we know the case that at least potentially could decide that and i don't know how much jeff talked about it, but i just wanted to talk more about this windsor case. it is called windsor against the united states. it is about a woman named edith windsor and her partner who is named tea spire. these are two women with long 40-year relationship. they were married in toronto, canada, in 2007 and spire died

in 2009 in new york at a time when new york recognized same sex marriages that had been performed out of the state. so spire dies. and then edie windsor, the woman whose name is on the case, was required to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes on the inheritance. and this is money that she would not have had to pay if federal law had given their relationship the same status that opposite sex marriages get. so this is a pretty clean case right here for the court to decide whether they decide it on benefits, whether they decide it on the issue of equal protection. the obama administration has already said, it doesn't think the constitutionality of the defense of marriage act can really withhold this kind of a legal attack. so we'll see, but i think the question you raised, deborah, is the question that is before all of us right now.

>> and -- >> if i can get a little technical here. there are ways that the supreme court could resolve both of these cases without engaging the substantive issues. when the court grants certiorari, they have granted in the windsor case, the defense of marriage act case, and the proposition 8 case out of california, they also agreed to decide the question of standing, which is do the -- do the -- are these cases even legitimately before the court? for example, in california, there is now a situation, and it this was the situation when the case was brought, the governor of california, the attorney general of california, all agree that this proposition 8 is unconstitutional. so who has the right to challenge the law. it is usually the governor and the attorney general who challenge the law. what happened in that case was a

group of outsiders, essentially, came in to say proposition 8 is constitutional. all through that case that has been the question of whether they even have the right to defend the law. that is a way this case could maybe just go away without a big 50-state ruling on same sex marriage. there are ways that the supreme court could dodge the big issue. but, they did accept the case for review. you have to believe at least some of the justices are interested in ruling on the question of same sex marriage, but it is not necessarily the case that they will do that. there are procedural roots to get out of this case, but there are -- they're in a lot deeper now than they were. >> jeff -- jeff toobin, joe johns, hang on for one second. we're going to take a quick break and have a lot, lot more on this particular conversation on this topic. so stay with us. let's say you want to get ahead in your career. how do you get from here...

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hi there, everybody. breaking news. the supreme court will take on the same sex marriage issue. this has just been announced. jeff toobin, joe johns both

joining me. joe, we were talking about it a little bit -- a few minutes ago. it is very interesting, not just in the cases that the supreme court decided to take, but the ones that they decided not to take. why? >> that's absolutely right. there is one case, gill versus the office of personnel management, which had a whole list of plaintiffs in it, a number of couples that had been denied different types of benefits, that the court did not decide to take, it is a sprawling case. and one of the things that is interesting about that is that in gill there was at least a possibility that justice kagan might have had to recuse herself because of her involvement further down the line as solicitor general. that would have created the possibility of at least conceivably of a 4-4 tie on the court. but by not taking that case, i think you can ask jeffrey toobin, but my feeling is they increase the possibilities that

they're going to get something here that really matters and doesn't just come out as a tie, which sort of reverts backwards. >> it certainly increases the chance that there won't be a tie. obviously there is not going to be a tie now because all nine justices are in the case. more importantly for supporters of same sex marriage, they're counting on elena kagan's vote. she's a barack obama appointee to the court. she's presumed to be a vote in favor of same sex marriage. so it is not just sort of, well, isn't it good that it won't be 4-4. it is going to be same sex marriage supporters are breathing a huge sigh of relief that they didn't take the gill case because losing elena kagan's vote, which we don't know for sure how she will vote, but that would be a tremendous loss for the supporters of marriage equality and they, so they're very happy that kagan is in this case. >> and wasn't to take a look at

a usa today poll done just this week, it was done by november 26th and 29th and apparently 53% of those questioned felt that same sex marriage should be legal. 46% said it should not be legal. 2% they were not sure, but, jeff, let me ask you a question, i don't know if i misspoke earlier, is this, you know, about equal protection and that all individuals having the same rights under the united states law? >> well, what makes this case so momentous, the proposition 8 case in particular it a simple legal issue, which is if the state of california says gay couples -- straight couple, you get married. gay couple, you can't get married, the court -- the question is is that a violation of the 14th amendment to the

constitution, which says equal protection of the law shall not be denied? it is really very simple. it is not -- i don't know what the answer is, but it is a fairly simple question. just that poll. if i can just talk about one aspect of supreme court history and how much the country has changed, you know, the biggest issue -- case on same -- on gay rights, before the turn of this millennium, was a case called bara v. hardwick. the swing vote in that case was lewis powell, justice lewis powell. lewis powell had a conversation with his law clerk while that case was pending and he said, you know, i don't think i've ever met a homosexual. you cannot imagine a supreme court justice saying that today. now, as it turned out, that law clerk he was speaking to was himself homosexual, but was in the closet at the time. and, you know, this is just an

example of how much the country has changed, even the most conservative justices, clarence thomas, antonin scalia, would not say to a law clerk, in 2012, you know, i've never met a homosexual. it just indicates how much the country has changed as does that poll. >> absolutely. all right, jeff toobin for us here in new york. joe johns for us there in washington, d.c. thank you, both, gentlemen, for joining us. we'll have a lot more on this throughout the course of the afternoon. want to switch gears a little bit. unlocking the power of your mind. author, medical doctor deepak chopra joins us to tell us how to unleash your mind to battle problems like depression or obesity.

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well, safe to say every one of us wants faster, better, smarter brain. but how about a superbrain? deepak chopra says you can get one and he claims to know how. he's the world famous mind/body guru who writes a lot of books about the subject. the latest book "superbrain: unleashing the explosive power of your mind to maximize health, happiness and speertdal well-bei spiritual well-being." thank you for being here. this book is a little bit different. explain how. >> i wrote this book, i co-wrote this book with dr. rudy tanzi, a neuroscientist, and we had a conversation after a attending a conference. both of us realized that our

brain activities that respond to every knee audiennuance of expe mental experience or physical experience or perceptual experience. i had been talking about the mind/body connection for the last 30 years. this is more about the mind/brain connection. you have to have a mind/brain connection before you can get a mind/body connection. and in this book we explore how you can influence your instinctive brain, your emotional brain, your intellectual brain to harness things like creativity and choice and insight and inspiration and intuition and healing. and even affect the biological markers of aging. >> what is fascinating about this, and i read the -- what you wrote on the huffington post in the book section, you said if input is everything, then happiness and well-being are created by giving the brain positive input. you've got to maximize positive input and minimize negative input basically.

how is that different? how does the -- how did the components of the brain factor into how that information is processed? >> well, there are many kinds of inputs. there are inputs that come into our brain through the five senses. sound, touch, sight, test and smell. there are inputs that come from our physical body, including physical organs. there are inputs that come from mental space, sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, and there are inputs that come from relationship. to maximize the brain's efficiency and turn it into a super brain, we have to give it positive inputs in these five areas. and in this book, we explore the methodologies of self-awareness, self-reflection, transcend ens, conscious choice making and perceptual experience. >> the book claims people can overcome the most common challenges like memory loss, depression, anxiety, obesity. there are a lot of books that

make similar claims. how is yours different? let's start with memory loss. >> well, again, only less than 5% of people who have alzheimer's, 5% of cases of alzheimer's are due to what are called fully penetrant genes. other things are obesity, lack of sensory stimulation, diabetes, high cholesterol, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, delta wave sleep, all contribute to memory loss. so by looking at those things we can improve the quality of our memories and our ability to retrieve them. >> all right. and it is interesting because you have created what you call a matrix for a positive lifestyle based on brain science. though it seems less like science and more so common sense. got to have good friends, can't isolate yourself, got to have a good relationship. it seems like common sense.

>> it is. a lot of it is common sense. and yet the sad part is that a lot of people don't practice it. what we're saying here in this book is you can actually activate the genes through habitual patterns of behavior so you create what is called long-term -- you create the neuronetworks so that after a while, it just becomes a habit. >> all right, a good habit at that. deepak chopra, thank you so much. we appreciate you joining us. >> thank you for having me. ibm is trying to save millions by changing how it matches employees 401(k) contributions and it could affect how your company handles your retirement. what's better? faster or slower? [ all kids ] faster! ok, what's fast? um, my mom's car and a cheetah. okay. a spaceship. a spaceship. and what's slow? my grandma's slow.

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absolutely confusing jobless numbers released today. unemployment dips to its lowest levels in four years, but we should be careful not to read too much into the jobs numbers. i'm ali velshi. this is your money. the labor department announced 146,000 jobs were added last

month. with the jobless rate dipping to 7.7%. athat is the lowest it's been since december of 2008, which was right after the lehman brothers bankruptcy and right before the worst of the financial crisis. for more breakdown of the numbers, let's go to christine romans. >> let's look at the sectors. you can see here 53,000 jobs created in retail. those are likely some of them temporary jobs for holiday shopping season. so those are not necessarily a sign of a durable recovery for next year. month of those are temporary jobs. wasn't to lo i want to look over here, 43,000 jobs created there, the government pointing out in its report that computer systems analysts and related fields are showing strong, strong demand and strong growth. those follow right there in that business and professional services. breaking down the different worker groups, 6.8% unemployment for whites, 10% unemployment for hispanics and african-american unemployment fell just slightly, just slightly to 13.2%.

you can see that structurally there are some big, big differences in disparities between the different worker groups. here is the trend going back to the financial crisis. and the recession afterward. these are all those hundreds of thousands, millions of jobs lost then in late 2008-2009 and now this is the attempt, now two years in a row, of steady job creation, but you want to see more, more than 150,000 jobs created every month. you would like to see that number continue to grow. >> these monthly reports are already confusing in normal times them rely on two very different surveys. a phone survey of households which comes up with the unemployment rate, the percentage. a business survey estimates the number of jobs added or lost each month. but november was unique. besides superstorm sandy's aftermath possibly skewing both surveys, the labor department says it decided to call people's homes a week early because of thanksgiving. diane swan says look for the numbers to be revised. >> we did see unemployment

insurance claims surge in the wake of sandy. and they may not have been totally included in some of the data as well because of electrical problems and people submitting on the survey. so it is unclear that although the number looks better than when what we expected, whether it is capturing sandy, because there were so many disruptions to reporting that my guess is that that's part of the reason we're seeing this seeing this distortion. >> but labor secretary says her agency takes all those things into account. her agency's report said, quote, its analysis suggests that hurricane sandy did not substantively impact the national emunemployment and unemployment numbers. >> they make judgments. the labor bureau statistics does their calculation. they look back at what happens happened previously, they use the same methodology used even during katrina, this was

slightly less impact. that's what you're seeing in this report. maybe the economy is heading in the right direction despite uncertainty businesses feel over the fiscal cliff or november's job numbers could be an anomaly and data thrown out the window in next month he a report. we have to see. speaking of workers, ibm, a company at the forefront of employee benefits is overhauling the retirement benefits program, like many companies out there, they match employee 401(k) contributions 6 to 8% of pay every pay period. now the company says it is switching the matches it makes to once a year, so the amount employees get from ibm isn't changing but the workers that leave before december 15 matching date won't get their payment for the year. look out for companies to follow that move with similar ones of their own in attempt to save on employee benefits. be careful when you decide to leave the company you work for. bad timing could cost you. for more detailed coverage, tune

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the criminal transmission of hiv, it is a charge hiv positive people may face for having sex with someone, spitting on someone, or biting someone. as dr. sanjay gupta reports, the severity of the laws are being questioned. >> reporter: four years ago, nick roads, an hiv positive 34-year-old in iowa met a younger man. they hit it off and they had sex. >> my viral was undetectable, wore a condom. did everything to protect him and myself. >> reporter: what rhodes didn't do is tell the friend about having hiv. when the friend found out, he sought treatment and the hospital called the police. rhodes was arrested and charged with criminal transmission of hiv. and after pleading guilty on the

advice of his lawyer, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. >> i served over a year locked up, some of it in maximum security, some of it in solitary confinement, and i still have to register as a sex offender for the rest of my life. >> reporter: an attorney from lambda legal is now his lawyer. he is asking them to overturn the conviction. >> this case was compelling. it was a good example of the ways in which the laws are misused by. >> reporter: a similar case, robert subtle's partner says he knew he had hiv, after a messy breakup, he went to police. he was charged with intentionally exposing the man

to the aids virus. >> i was arrested at work and i was booked. >> reporter: to avoid a ten year sentence, he entered a plea and spent six months in jail. under the picture on his driver's license, in bold red capital letters, it says sex offender. he has to carry that tag for 15 years. >> there were people that are aware they are hiv, doesn't mean they're criminals, doesn't mean they have malicious intent to hurt anybody. they're trying to cope with having this disease, and yet there's these laws make us look like we're criminals. >> reporter: 34 states and two territories have laws that criminalize activities of people with hiv. not disclosing your status to a sexual partner can land you in jail. so can spitting on someone or biting them, if you have the disease. often it doesn't matter if you actually transmit the virus. in fact, the man that slept with rhodes never got hiv. >> jail time is not warranted in

these cases. >> reporter: last year, congresswoman barbara lee introduced legislation to get rid of these state laws. >> many offenses receive a lesser sentence than the transmission of hiv, and these laws, again, they're archaic, wrong, unjust, need to be looked at and taken off the books. >> reporter: he says he knows the laws need updating but repeals would be a mistake. >> any time anyone knows they have hiv or aids, does not disclose that to the other party i think is wrong. i think this should be a sanction. i just don't think you do that in america. and i think most prosecutors would agree with me. >> reporter: rhodes and subtle now work for the zero project, they fight stigma and discrimination, trying to make the case that what happened to them should never happen to others. >> we cannot sit and ignore the fact this is happening. >> i have to fight for this. i think there are a lot of other people that are fighting as

well. >> reporter: and deb, i'll tell you, there's a significant percentage of people that still don't know their status, and part of the reason they say as well is because of these laws. they say if you don't know your status and something like this happens, you're not as likely to be charged with a crime. so these laws they say sort of act as deterrent towards people getting tested, deb. >> sanjay, how common are these type of prosecutions anyway? >> reporter: in 39 states in part of our investigation, we found there's been some sort of prosecution, for transmission or nondisclosure. what's striking, some laws haven't been updated for 20 years, deb. people can be charged for spitting on somebody. the science has taught us a lot about how hiv is transmitted. you can't transmit it through spitting, yet that can still be something that is illegal. so it is quite extraordinary. >> what's interesting to me is also usually when couples get